REGUA, Atlantic Forest, Brazil: 14 July

I didn't have much time for birding today but I did spend part of the morning at the wetland and on the adjacent forest trails. Highlights along the Brown Trail, which runs through an area replanted with pioneer tree species in 2007, were 1 Crane Hawk, 5 Sooretama Slaty Antshrike (including a pair feeding a juvenile), a Euler's Flycatcher and 2 Fawn-breasted Tanager. Afterwards a quick walk along the São José Trail once again failed to find any Shrike-like Cotingas, but 1 White-bibbed Antbird, 1 Black-billed Scythebill, 1 Eared Pygmy-Tyrant, 2 Whiskered Flycatcher, a pair of Black-capped Becard, 1 Rufous-browed Peppershrike, a Flame-crested Tanager and 2 more Sooretama Slaty Antshrike provided some compensation, along with a White Witch Moth Thysania agrippina (photo below), which has the largest wing-span of any moth or insect in the world at up to 280 mm! I was in a meeting for the whole afternoon but still managed to catch up with the Rufous-tailed Jacamar that has taken up residence at the conservation centre.

REGUA, Atlantic Forest, Brazil: 13 July

An early morning walk up the Grey Trail eventually produced our target bird for the day - Russet-winged Spadebill - but unfortunately it wasn't co-operating for the camera. REGUA has become one of the most reliable sites for this Vulnerable Atlantic Forest endemic, with at least three areas on the reserve where they can be seen. An unexpected bonus on the Grey Trail came in the form of 3 Black-legged Dacnis feeding in a flowering tree. Black-legged Dacnis have become a regular feature at the REGUA wetland in the autumn but it is still unusual to see them at this time of year.

Other birds seen today include 2 Pileated Parrot, Grey-rumped Swift, Black Jacobin, 2 Spot-billed Toucanet, 2 Yellow-eared Woodpecker, Black-cheeked Gnateater, 3 Rufous-capped Antthrush (photo below), 1 Eared Pygmy-Tyrant, 2 White-rumped Monjita, 1 Greyish Mourner, 1 Rufous-browed Peppershrike, Azure-shouldered Tanager and Golden-crowned Warbler.

REGUA, Atlantic Forest, Brazil: 12 July

Spent the day birding an area of REGUA known as Waldenoor - a collection of small holdings only recently purchased by REGUA which contains some excellent quality, and not to mention beautiful, forest (photo 1). The excellent new Veludo Trail drops steadily in altitude through primary forest, secondary forest and dense scrubland, as well previously cleared areas that REGUA has replanted with native pioneer tree species.

The most notable sighting of the day was a female Green Honeycreeper, found by the superhuman eyes of Adilei, one of REGUA's guides. This is a new species for the Reserve and brings the REGUA list up to an incredible 457! Highlight of day for me though was finally catching up with Saffron Toucanet! This little bugger has given me the runaround on previous trips, often reappearing in the very places I had looked just a day or so later and so finding one feeding in a fruiting tree caused for a celebration!

Although the forest was relatively quiet with few birds calling (to be expected in early July) we found some some fantastic winter mixed species flocks and still managed to notch up a long list of birds, including: 4 Whistling Heron, 2 Mantled Hawk soaring with a Black-and-white Hawk-Eagle, Plain Parakeet, 1 Pileated Parrot, Scaly-headed Parrot, a superb Least Pygmy-Owl being heavily mobbed (photo 2), Scale-throated Hermit and Brazilian Ruby (two altitudinal migrant hummingbirds), 1 Surucua Trogon, 1 Black-throated Trogon, 1 Rufous-capped Motmot, 1 Rufous-tailed Jacamar, 2 Crescent-chested Puffbird, 1 Yellow-throated Woodpecker, Spot-breasted and Plain Antvireos, 1 Star-throated Antwren, 1 Rufous-winged Antwren, Streak-capped Antwren (including one bird at eye level for a change - photo 3), 1 White-shouldered Fire-eye, 2 Rufous-breasted Leaftosser, 2 Scaled Woodcreeper, 2 Rufous-capped Spinetail, Black-capped and Buff-fronted Foliage-gleaners, 1 Pale-browed Treehunter, Eye-ringed Tody-Tyrant, 1 Eared Pygmy-Tyrant, 2 Rough-legged Tyrannulet (photo 4), 1 Planalto Tyrannulet (photo 5), 2 White-throated Spadebill, 1 Blue-billed Black-Tyrant, 1 Black-tailed Tityra, Black-capped Becard, 1 Rufous-browed Peppershrike, several Olive-green Tanager, 1 Uniform Finch, 9 Yellow-green Grosbeak, 1 Black-throated Grosbeak, 2 Chestnut-bellied Euphonia and a Blue-naped Chlorophonia.

REGUA, Atlantic Forest, Brazil: 11 July

With a meeting arranged for this afternoon followed by a sorte to decide where to site a new hide, birding was once again restricted to the wetland and trails near the lodge. Today turned out to be one of the quietest days for bird activity I've experienced at REGUA, but we still had a few reasonable sightings. An Azure-shouldered Tanager over the lodge is a very low altitude record and good numbers of Yellow-legged Thrushes around are mainly altitudinal migrants, moving lower the escape the low temperatures higher up the mountains.

At the wetland 2 Greater Ani, 4 Masked Duck, 1 Striated Heron, 1 Snowy Egret, 4 Wing-banded Hornero, 3 Black-capped Donacobius and 2 Brazilian Tanager were the pick of the bunch, and 1 White-flanked Antwren, 2 Unicoloured Antwren, 1 Plain-winged Woodcreeper, 1 Black-capped Foliage-gleaner, 1 Plain Xenops and 1 Grey-hooded Flycatcher were the highlights along the Brown Trail. The São José Trail was even quieter with a White-necked Hawk being the only noteworthy bird seen. Frustratingly we twice heard a Red-ruffed Fruitcrow but couldn't see it.

Still, all was not lost. A two hour night walk around the wetland resulted in great views of a male Scissor-tailed Nightjar singing from a termite mound (with another 2 heard) as well as several Pauraque and 2 Tawny-browed Owl heard.

REGUA, Atlantic Forest, Brazil: 10 July

Spent a quiet day around the restored wetlands and adjacent forest trails. Highlights at the wetland were 5 Masked Duck, a very unseasonal Streaked Flycatcher (a summer migrant here), 12 Muscovy Duck (a high site count), 1 Ochre-bellied Flycatcher, 1 Lemon-chested Greenlet, 1 Moustached Wren, a very showy Long-billed Wren (photo 1), 1 Green Kingfisher, 2 White-tipped Dove (surprisingly difficult to see well at REGUA), 1 Yellow-legged Thrush and this superb male Chestnut-backed Antshrike (photo 2). A search along the São José Trail for one of REGUA's speciality birds, Shrike-like Cotinga, drew a blank, but a very brief Toco Toucan, my first at REGUA, more than made up for it! Other species seen on a quick visit to this trail include 1-2 White-barred Piculet, 1 Black-cheeked Gnateater, 2-3 Lesser Woodcreeper, 3 Yellow-legged Thrush, 1 Grey-hooded Attila, 4 Black-goggled Tanager, 1 Flame-crested Tanager, 1 Ruby-crowned Tanager, 1 Rufous-headed Tanager and 3 Yellow-backed Tanager.

A night walk along the excellent Onofre Cunha Trail this evening produced incredible views of Giant Snipe down to 2 metres (photo 3), with another 2 birds heard, along with 2 Black-banded Owl and a Common Potoo (another was also heard). Unfortunately a calling Tawny-browed Owl refused to show for us, but maybe next time.

REGUA, Atlantic Forest, Brazil: 9 July

Arrived in Rio de Janeiro at 5:30 this morning after a mainly sleepless overnight flight. The early morning two hour drive north-east to REGUA in the Serra dos Órgãos mountains produced the usual common birds including several Little Blue Heron in Guanabara Bay, a Savannah Hawk, 2 Ringed Kingfisher and a Burrowing Owl. On arrival at REGUA's Guapi Assu Bird Lodge all traces of tiredness were forgotten with the sight of the fruit and hummingbird feeders heaving with birds. Good numbers of Swallow-tailed Hummingbirds, 60 Maroon-bellied Parakeets and lots of Blue Dacnis (photo 1) on the bananas made great viewing in the garden. 1 Rufous-breasted Hermit, several Violet-capped Woodnymphs and Glittering-throated Emeralds and a Yellow-lored Tody-Flycatcher (photo 2) were amongst the other species seen.

A walk to the new wetland hide to look for Boat-billed Heron failed to find any of these charismatic birds, but the sun was quite intense and they were probably just taking cover in the shade. However, the REGUA wetland is very birdy and it was good to take it easy getting reacquainted with the more common species. Most noteworthy were 1 Rufescent Tiger-Heron, 2 Capped Heron, 1 Aplomado Falcon, 1 Blue-winged Parrotlet, 2 Tropical Screech-Owl (at the usual roost site), 1+ Lesser Swallow-tailed Swift, 3 Chestnut-backed Antshrike, 2 Rufous Hornero (photo 3), 1 Yellow-browed Tyrant (one of my favourite Tyrant-Flycatchers), 2+ Grey-breasted Martin and 1 Fawn-breasted Tanager. Also this Great Kiskadee (photo 4) provided excellent entertainment diving into the water after small prey items!

Back to the Bird Continent

I am about depart for a two week trip to Brazil's endemic-rich Atlantic Forest. One of the world's top biodiversity hotspots, the Atlantic Forest, or Mata Atlântica as its known in Brazil, stretches along the coast of south-east Brazil into coastal Uruguay and inland into north-east Argentina and eastern Paraguay. Geographically isolated from other forested areas of South America, the Atlantic Forest has a high degree of endemism, and supports about 200 endemic bird species!

Once again I'll be staying at Guapi Assu Bird Lodge located at REGUA, an Atlantic Forest reserve in Rio state and my foreign patch (photo below). REGUA spans two Endemic Bird Areas identified by BirdLife International - the Atlantic forest lowlands and the Atlantic forest mountains. So far an incredible 456 species have been recorded on the Reserve, including 118 Atlantic Forest endemics and 62 Brazilian Endemics! The Atlantic Forest is also one of the world's most threatened ecosystems with only around 7% of the original forested area remaining and virtually all of the lowland Atlantic Forest destroyed. REGUA contains a large area of continuous lowland forest which makes it an important reserve.

Since my last trip 14 months ago REGUA has planted another 32,500 native trees (105,000 now planted in total), purchased another 35 ha of rainforest, built a second hide at the wetland, opened a new laboratory at the conservation centre, landscaped the lodge gardens and developed new trails. I can't wait to see for myself how much things have changed!